Phantom Task
by slugboy
Summary: A powered exoskeleton more advanced than modern technology? Sounds like the suit Jack and Maddie Fenton made years back.
1. Chapter 1

Phantom Task

Chapter 1

"{Dialogue}"- Spoken in English

"Dialogue"- Spoken in Japanese (or other foreign language, you'll know)

[**Bold Text**]- IS Frame/model

[Text]- IS term or Electronic Message

'_Italics text'_- Personal thoughts

* * *

Danny Fenton's grin stretched across his face. Three years had passed since the 'Disasteroid' incident had made him a world famous hero, high school was over, and in the next few weeks he was scheduled to start training to be an astronaut. Nothing could ruin his day.

Except maybe a spontaneous ghost portal in his path as he flew over Amity Park City Hall. Had his eyes been open, he could have avoided it but they were closed in a relaxed sigh. He did notice the sudden change of light as he passed through it, though. Amity Park had been mid-afternoon, if a bit overcast, so the change to darkness was shocking. Stopping mid-air, Danny turned back to see the green, glowing portal, before shooting at it in an attempt to return from wherever he was, before the natural portal vanished. Unfortunately, the oval dissipated before Danny could fly through it.

"{Great,}" Danny huffed as he floated in the air, "{Where exactly am I?}"

Concentrating ecto-energy into his hand, he formed a glowing orb and illuminated his surroundings with a green light. He discovered that he was, in fact, inside what appeared to be a storeroom. It was larger than the gymnasium at Amity High, rivaling the 'secret' meat locker under the school. About thirty feet below him, dozens of identical objects were lined up in a grid-like fashion.

"{What are those?}" Danny mused aloud, descending to get a better look.

As he approached, the half-ghost realized that the objects were as tall as the Fenton RV and shaped vaguely like the Exo-suit, lacking a torso to connect the arms and legs. Round openings on each appendage appeared to be large enough for his limbs to fit in.

"{Just one try, then I'll find out where I am and how to get back,}" Danny finally gave in to the curiousity of these green armors, reverting to human form. Visibly, only the colors of his clothes, hair, and eyes changed. Physiologically though, he changed from a primarily ectoplasm-based life form to a carbon-based life form. The Exo-suit that he'd fought Pariah Dark in wouldn't initially to his ghost form, so neither would these… armors Danny called them.

The young man slid his legs into the corresponding sockets in the armor followed by the arms. The fit was snug. Nothing happened. "{Oh well,}" he sighed in anticlimax and began to pull out.

*TING*

Suddenly Danny's senses were flooded with information and the armor rose slightly off of the ground.

* * *

Chifuyu Orimura shot from her bed reflexively as an alarm went off. She checked the clock. _0217_ _hours_. She checked the device blaring the alarm, just as probably every other IS Academy staff member was doing the same

[Unauthorized Activation of Academy IS During Curfew Hours]

With a grimace the woman rapidly changed out of sleepwear and bolted out of the door. _'None of the proximity alarms were tripped. I will know just who they think they are.'_

* * *

Danny was immensely enjoying himself as he flew around the room. Though there were no windows to allow light to enter, the 'armor' increased not only his night vision to the point that the darkness was a non-issue, but also his peripheral vision to see in all directions without turning his head. The increased awareness was dizzyingly confusing at first but within minutes he recovered and took to flying around.

"{Okay, that's enough,}" he admitted after five minutes of fun, "{Time to leave.}" But he didn't know how to remove the 'armor'. His limbs were held captive. Moments later, characters flashed across the display, "{Is that Japanese? Darn it I can't read Japanese! English. Give me English.}"

The display, seemingly following his command, switched to the letters and words Danny could read.

[Academy Anti-Theft Protocol: Activated. Rendering Pilot Unconscious.]

"What?" Danny managed to exclaim just before all of his nerves were over-stimulated and he passed out. Without his conscious guiding it, the armor slowly descended to the floor.

Chifuyu entered the IS hanger, leading three other adults, to detain the intruder. When she laid eyes on Danny in the [**Uchigane**], her gaze narrowed.

"A boy?" Maya Yamada, Chifuyu's assistant teacher, asked.

* * *

Danny awoke handcuffed to a table. He looked around finding the white room to be featureless save for the door, his seat and the table. Though he retained his clothes, he felt that his pockets were empty and the familiar weight of the Fenton Thermos 2.0 was absent from his hip. '_Find stuff, get out, get directions, get home,' _Danny checked off mentally. Just as he was about to phase out of his shackles, the door opened.

The woman who walked in had distinctively Asian features, which made sense if the characters he'd been unable to read earlier were Japanese. She was tall, slim, and dressed in a black skirt, something a teacher might wear. Her hazel eyes narrowed into a piercing glare.

"{Look who's finally awake,}" she spoke in fluent English, "{I just got off the line with a US official and 'Daniel Olsen Fenton' doesn't exist,}" she slid Danny's wallet across the table to him, his driver's license falling out, "{So the question is who you really are. Not only that, but who you're affiliated with, why you were stealing an IS, and how you activated it.}"

"{Who are you? Where am I? What's an—}" he started but was cut off as the woman slammed his head down to the table.

"{I'm asking the questions here,}" she threatened, "{Who sent you? Phantom Task?}"

"{I have a task named for me?}" Danny asked awed. The woman's glare sharpened, "{What, how could you not know about me?}" he said defensively, "{Danny Phantom, as in the guy who saved the Earth from the Disasteroid. There's a statue of me in every capital on the planet.}"

The woman glared at him for a moment before leaving a parting word, {"You'll talk eventually. You're a captive of the Infinite Stratos Academy. You won't be leaving unless we release you. Anything you want to say now?"}

"{Just two,}" Danny said, leaning back in his seat with his hands behind his head, "{Get better handcuffs, and you forgot the part about doing 'lots of painful experiments' to me.}"

* * *

Chifuyu watched the footage again, scowling.

"_Just two…"_

"There!" she ordered. Maya paused it. "Zoom in on the intruder's wrists."

"Yes," Maya answered and did so. As the image focused she gasped.

Chifuyu's scowl deepened. At that moment the screen displayed an image of self-titled 'Danny's' wrists passed halfway through the handcuffs. _'Another super soldier? If so, who is he with? And what's the importance of _this_?'_ she gripped the metal cylinder taken off of the intruder.

* * *

With the break-in that morning, classes at the Academy were suspended for the day. That meant a free day, except for one Ichika Orimura. Each of the girls: Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Charl, and Laura all wanted to share his time. An agreement was reached to eat lunch together on the roof. Naturally, the conversation shifted to the reason classes were canceled for the day.

"Whatever it is that happened," Ichika said, "It's got Chifuyu-nee nervous. Three times today, she's come by to check up on me."

"That is unsurprising of Instructor," Laura stated, "Sisters do check up on their younger siblings."

"It has been every hour on the hour, Bodewig-san," Cecilia argued, "Orimura-sensei has never done that."

"Speaking of…" Charlotte added, looking beyond Ichika.

"Bodewig, Orimura," Chifuyu approached the group, a strange metal cylinder in her hand, "I need you two to come with me."

"But what about us," Rin complained.

"It's about the disturbance this morning, isn't it, Orimura-sensei? What happened?" Houki asked

Chifuyu looked at her students critically for a moment and sighed, "You'll all try to get involved anyway, so I might as well tell you, but it doesn't go beyond any of you,"

"Understood, sensei," they all said in unison.

Chifuyu sighed again, "This morning at 0217 hours, an intruder activated one of the Academy's Training IS. None of the proximity tripwires were set off. After capture, the US government denied his existence and he's been kept in an interrogation cell ever since."

"Wait, wait, wait," Ichika spoke up, "_He?_"

"Yes, _he_!" Chifuyu confirmed, "He claims his identity as Danny Phantom…"

"Someone say my name?" Danny said in halting Japanese, stepping out from behind Chifuyu, as his ghost half. _'Thank you, Tucker, for insisting on learning Japanese. And thank you Cram-tastic 5000 for making it possible.'_

At his sister's sudden rigid posture, Ichika reflexively called **[Byakushiki]** mentally and pointed his weapon at the strange young man as the white armor materialized. Laura had the same reflex, donning **[Schwarzer Regen]** simultaneously. Rin in her **[ShenLong]**, along with Charlotte in **[Raphael-Revive Custom II]**, Houki in **[Akatsubaki]**, and Cecilia in her **[Blue Tears]**, followed suit within the following seconds with varying difficulty. "Who are you?" Ichika demanded.

Seeing the different types of armor materialize on the group startled Danny, though excited him too. "{Cool, where can I get one of those?}" he asked in English with awe, seemingly indifferent to the numerous weapons directed at him.

Chifuyu used his distraction to put some distance between herself and the intruder who had escaped, changed appearance, and snuck up on her, without her being notified and no triggered alarms.

"Orimura-sensei," Yamada's voice called through the comlink in Chifuyu's ear, "I'm sorry, I had to use the bathroom so I left the observation room. I was only gone for three minutes and when I got back, the boy was gone."

"Don't worry, Yamada-sensei," Chifuyu replied, "He's not gotten far, he's right in front of me." Facing back at the intruder, "How did you get out of that cell? Escaping shackles is one thing, but that room has walls of concrete and steel over a meter thick."

Danny apparently remembered where he was, shaking his head rapidly, before turning to Chifuyu, "Um, it wasn't that hard. You should've lined it with {Ecto-ranium} if you wanted to hold me."

"{Ecto-what?}" Cecilia exclaimed, dropping back to English in surprise, "{And what did you mean, '{where do I get one of those?}' These are IS, something even a country bumpkin should be aware of, which only females can pilot so it would not do you any benefit to locate one.}"

Immediately, Danny reached down to pat his groin before sighing in relieve, "{…Still there,}" he paused looking at Ichika, who was holding a blade at him, "{But isn't _he_ male, too?}" then he continued, "{What's going on here? You,}" he pointed to Cecilia, "{Sound British by accent. The ones in orange and black also look European but everyone else looks Asian and speaks Japanese. You don't know what Ecto-ranium is? It's the isotope found in all anti-ghost devices—}"

"Anti-ghost devices?" Chifuyu repeated slowly in Japanese, cutting Danny off, drawing a double take from those present except Cecilia, Danny, and Laura, "Ghosts don't exist, neither does your 'Ecto-ranium'," she bluffed as her mind raced at what had been just said, '_Ghosts? Impossible, those are just fairy tales. Stories cooked up by the superstitious.'_

"Ghosts _do _exist," Danny argued, "I fight them almost daily. Lady, you're even holding the thing I catch them in," he pointed at the Fenton Thermos Ver 2.0 that Chifuyu was holding.

Chifuyu glanced down at the metal tube that had been confiscated from 'Danny' then back to the young man, "How do I know that this isn't some explosive designed to cripple the Academy?"

Danny sighed, "It's called the 'Fenton Thermos Ver 2.0'. Designed by Jack and Madeline Fenton, my parents, built by them, funded by the 'Guys in White' section of the US government. Remove the lid and you'll find it hollow. I could show you—"

"No, I'll do it," Chifuyu declared.

"But Sis/Instructor/Sensei," the group protested.

"Quiet, and keep an eye on him" Chifuyu shouted, gripping the thermos lid. Slowly, she twisted until it came off. Cautiously peeking inside, as if it were the barrel of a gun, she saw the inside bare, save for circuitry running through the inner walls.

She heard them gasp and she shot a glance at the intruder. By this point, she _had_ been starting to believe this 'Danny', at least that he believed that he was telling the truth. Having interrogated a lot of spies over the past few years had given her a good grasp of reading non-verbals and she could confidently claim that she could read truth or deception from a total stranger accurately 90% of the time. That statistic jumped to 97% accuracy with two weeks of interaction. Between her years as a combat pilot and teaching teenage girls, she was certain that she'd 'seen it all'. She was also shocked at what she saw.

Around Danny a ring of light appeared, similar to a halo, a meter in diameter, at his midsection with a 'hiss'. The ring separated into two, traveling vertically across his body, with a soft hum. As the rings passed, the black jumpsuit was replaced with jeans, a white T-shirt, and red converses. As the top ring went over his face, his green irises returned to blue and his white hair became black again.

Danny Fenton reached out toward Chifuyu, causing the relaxed weapons to be trained upon him again, "Can I have that back now? I'd rather not be sucked into it again or have you accidentally let something out."

"L-Let something out?" Rin asked nervously.

Chifuyu had noticed the red buttons on the side and accidently nudged one. Light shot out of the open end for a second before fading with no other effects. Danny stood frozen reaching towards her with horror on his face. Cecilia and Laura were looking at her too. Ichika, Houki, Rin, and Charlotte were all looking up into the air, their gazes following _something_.

Quickly recovering from his shock, Danny raced to Chifuyu and grabbed the thermos, panicked. She relinquished it without a struggle, assuming he had a good reason to panic. As he scanned down the thermos, Chifuyu looked back at her students. Cecilia had noticed Ichika staring into the sky and tried to follow his gaze but apparently couldn't. Chifuyu couldn't see what they were watching either.

"Ichika!" she barked at her younger brother, "What are you looking at?"

"You can't see it?" Ichika asked in amazement, "It appeared right out of the thermos…"

"Young boy, green hair, buck tooth, dressed like a cowboy, skeleton horse?" Danny asked looking up from the thermos, exasperation in his voice. Blue mist wafted from his lips and nostrels.

"Almost," Charlotte answered, "He seems to be dressed like an aviator and his biplane is made of bones."

Danny swore, his eyes scanning the sky randomly.

"What's wrong?" Chifuyu said curtly.

"You let out {Youngblood}, Lady," Danny sardonically replied, "The one ghost impossible for me to see anymore. Well at least someone can see him."

"What's so special about this 'ghost'?" Laura stated, "I see nothing. Du bist verrückt."

"{_**Young**_blood}," Danny emphasized, "Only kids and teens can see him. Once ya reach adulthood, or think of yourself as one, he becomes invisible."

There were some screams from the courtyard on the ground as a gaggle of girls scattered, covering their heads.

"I can't take this," Ichika declared flying towards the courtyard, "This ghost, or whatever is done."

Houki and Rin followed immediately after, but before Charlotte could as well, she felt a tug on her IS arm. She saw Danny holding it, once again in his black-and-white jumpsuit.

"Excuse me Miss..."

"Dunois," she answered, "Charlotte Dunois."

"Well, Miss Dunois, could you please describe the fight for me?"

* * *

Ichika gripped the [Yukihira] as he raced towards the skeletal biplane. With the superior speed of **[Byakushiki]**, he nearly overshot his target. The boy in the cockpit cackled, rolling to the left, avoiding Ichika's first swing.

"{Do a barrel roll,}" the boy shouted happily.

Rin swung down from above, attempting to cleave the vehicle in two. An instant before impact, the plane and boy became translucent and Rin's attack passed through harmlessly. "What the Hell?" the Chinese girl growled.

* * *

"Yeah, he went intangible," Danny answered as Charlotte described the failed attack, "Basic ghost ability."

"Is it an automatic response?" she posed, drawing a [Vent] .55 caliber Semi-automatic assault rifle from an equalizer, "Or does require conscious effort?" She sighted down the scope towards the plane.

"That is _so_ cool," Danny commented at the materialization of the weapon. The noise of a throat being cleared snapped him out of it, "Yes, it's a conscious effort…usually."

"What?" Charlotte queried, involuntarily pulling the trigger. The [Vent] roared. Without the proper aim and lead, the bullet broke off the vertical tailfin. The boy leaned out of his pilot seat to shout angrily at her. Charlotte sighed and readied another shot.

"Allow me to try, Charlotte-san," Cecilia called, readying [Blue Pierce], "Sniping _is_ my specialty. Though, I'll need your observations."

"{Sniping…blind. I can _so_ see this working}," Danny deadpanned.

"{Shut up!}" Cecilia barked, "Charlotte, bearing please."

"Distance: 146 meters; Angle of elevation: 2 degrees…"

* * *

Ichika watched as his shield energy dropped a little more. The boy was surprisingly difficult to land a hit on. The close range strikes were passed harmlessly through and his one-off abilities were dodged. Rin and Houki were having similar problems. The boy wasn't fighting back for the most part, seemingly playing a game of 'Tag' where everyone else was 'IT'.

Suddenly a blue beam bore through the engine of the plane, causing it to slow. The pilot screamed and yelled angrily before stopping the plane in mid-air to face Ichika.

* * *

"Direct hit to engine," Charlotte announced, "It's slowing but…not falling?"

"Thanks girls, but now it's my turn," Danny said, launching himself in the direction where Ichika, Houki, and Rin hovered in a circle around supposedly Youngblood.

* * *

"Alright," Cecilia professed, "That was rather exciting." Everyone was back on the roof, sitting in a circle, except Chifuyu, who was monitoring them, Danny specifically. All IS were on standby and Danny was in human form. Youngblood had since been captured.

"So ghosts really exist," Laura queried. She had not seen the ghost, thus remained skeptical.

"Sure," Danny set the thermos mid circle, "there's a different ghost to show than {Youngbutt}," the others tensed as Danny pressed the top red button on the side.

After the light funneling out dissipated, they were greeted with the sight of a portly, pale-blue skinned figure, wearing a grey shirt under overalls and sporting a grey beanie. The hunched over figure paused momentarily before declaring, "{I AM THE BOX GHOST! MASTER OF ALL THINGS CARDBOARD AND SQUARE—}"

"{BEWARE!}" Danny cut him off, firing a blue beam from a fingertip. Box Ghost was encased in a block of ice, which promptly dropped, nearly crushing the thermos. "That proof enough?" he asked as he drew the helpless spirit back into his containment device.

"I am still curious as to what you are. You look human, but have abilities not unlike the ghosts. In stories: flight, immateriality, invisibility," Cecilia listed, before hesitatingly touching his hand, "Also your flesh is warm and you have a pulse. What exactly are you, Daniel?"

"I'm a halfa. Half-human, half-ghost."

There was a silence as his audience attempted to string the events leading to such a lifeform. "Lab accident, long story short, my DNA got spliced with ghost DNA."

"That doesn't explain how you got here," Chifuyu questioned.

"No idea, best guess is a natural ghost portal that appears from time to time."

"Can't you take it back?"

"Lady, natural ghost portals appear randomly and last for a few minutes at most. That portal is long gone."

"So, we're stuck with you. Great. No papers, no nothing."

"Um, Sis?"

"It's Orimura-sensei," Chifuyu corrected her brother with a strike.

"O-Orimura-sensei, I have an idea."

* * *

The next day, classes resumed as usual with one exception.

"Class," Yamada announced, "Today we have another transfer student joining our class." She turned to the door expectantly. And waited. "Um Fenton-san?"

"{Let's get this over with}," Danny mumbled to himself before entering. The class was silent as he walked to a position next to the petite built teacher. "Hi, I'm Daniel Fenton from America. I go by Danny, though."

As the class erupted with questions from the other students, one thought was racing through his mind, _'Sam and Tucker are going to kill me.'_

* * *

(German): Du bist verrückt- You are mad/insane/crazy

Author's Notes

Well it's nice to get back to writing. Generally Wednesday's are my day of the week to write and I got this idea in my head that was too cool (personally) to pass up. Sorry to those who were hoping I'd update Zero's Dog or Needless and Vampire.

To those who may think giving Danny IS piloting abilities or his presence period holds little water, I shall point you towards some Danny Phantom episodes, which you should watch anyway.

First his presence in the world of IS: Episode 42- Infinite Realms states that ghost portals occur naturally and randomly. The portals can transcend time and space, so I don't think dimensions is too big a leap.

Second, his piloting abilities. Episode 12- Teacher of the Year has Danny enter his computer and overshadow/possess his avatar in an online RPG. Then there's Technus, Ghost Master of Technology.

The reason that Danny, Laura, Cecilia, and Chifuyu cannot see Youngblood is mainly because of outlook. Danny(age 18) _knows_ that Youngblood can only be perceived by non-adults but isn't childish enough to see him anymore. Laura was born and raised to be a supersoldier, childhood has no meaning for her. Cecilia has had to fend off adults grabbing for her family's fortune since age twelve, when she was orphaned, childhood was something she had to mature out of. Chifuyu _is_ an adult and filled the roll of a parent to Ichika. On a related note, Tabane Shinonono likely _could _see Youngblood.

Thanks for reading. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Phantom Task 2

"{Dialogue}"- Spoken in English

"Dialogue"- Spoken in Japanese (or other foreign language, you'll know)

[**Bold Text**]- IS Frame/model

[Text]- IS term or Electronic Message

'_Italics text'_- Personal thoughts

* * *

Danny's first day of class was a nightmare. Surrounded by people constantly shooting glances at him. So many awkward questions. A teacher not above verbal abuse. It was like high school all over again…if Casper High had been an all girls school. Danny quickly learned that IS Academy had exactly two male students: himself and Ichika. Right then, he'd considered jumping ship and taking his chances with coming across another random portal but he remained.

His part of the bargain was that he'd keep a low profile and provide ghost technology. In return, Chifuyu promised that she'd convince 'a certain genius' to create a means for Danny to return, in addition to free room and board, and asylum from any and all government agencies.

'_I could still do without the uniform,'_ he thought as he glanced down at the required dress code, white blazer and trousers. When the bell rang, he raced out of the room before anyone else could even leave their seats. After sprinting down the hall, seeking refuge in a bathroom, hastily retreating when a girl inside screamed, and leaning against a wall, he collapsed.

He noticed the lack of lockers in the hallway along with a comparatively sparse number of students, though that changed quickly. The hall was soon packed with girls trying to see the new boy. Over the din, Danny heard his salvation.

"Fenton-san," Ichika called over the crowd, "We're supposed to head to the locker room by the stadium." He pushed his way through the crowd and offered Danny a hand.

Gratefully accepting the lifeline, Danny followed Ichika, ignoring the slight unnatural chill he felt.

* * *

"What is _this_?" Danny demanded, holding up a hanger with a short tube of thin, dark rubber lined with pale green at the bottom.

Ichika looked up from his locker, partially out of his school uniform, "Oh, that's your IS suit. You wear it whenever you plan to use an IS." He tugged off his undershirt to display his, "You wear it like this. And there should be a lower half for you in there too."

Danny looked back at the two halves, "And we wear these why? No one had these yesterday."

"Like we had the time to strip down before calling out our IS to answer an unknown threat. You had Chifuyu-nee nervous. She is _never_ nervous," Ichika retorted. "And you might want to hurry, making the girls wait has consequences."

"Fine, I'll wear it," Danny replied, disappearing. A second later the top half of his academy uniform haphazardly landed in his open locker, followed by his pants. Then he reappeared, completely changed. "It's only twenty girls plus some, right. Not too much."

"Actually, it's around forty," Ichika corrected, still in mild shock over Danny's speedy wardrobe change, "Class 1-1 and Class 1-2 share the stadium for the practical lessons. I think it's to keep the first year representative candidates together…"

"And we're _really_ the only guys?"

"In the whole school, yes," Ichika answered solemnly, completely ready for class.

'_Sounds like a plot from one of Tucker'smanga.'_ Danny thought to himself as they exited the locker room.

"{What. The. Heck?}" Danny spoke aloud upon seeing the girls already there. Their IS suits were like a one-piece swimsuit, with mid-thigh stockings. He felt another chill. Before he and Ichika could even arrive, the girls swarmed.

"Are you really a guy?"

"How old are you?"

"What was your first experience with IS?"

"What's America like?"

A smaller girl pushed up to the front. Unlike the others, her suit was pink. Danny recognized Lingyin Huang, also known as Rin, from the day before, by the twin yellow ribbons in her hair. "I didn't think of it yesterday Fenton-san, but are you related to—"

"{DAAAAAANNNNNNNYYYYYYY!}" a familiar voice cried out. The crowd parted and Danny felt himself tackled by a form slightly larger than Rin. As he went to the ground, he recognized the black ponytail and blue eyes.

"{Dani, what are you doing here?}" he asked as he pulled himself to his feet, "{And _why_ are you wearing _that_?}" he demanded, realizing that Danielle was also in an IS pilot suit.

"{So it _is_ you Danny, I thought it was you yesterday when Youngblood appeared. And today, the school's been buzzing with rumors about you. How did _you_ get here? I arrived months ago by natural portal.}"

"What is going on here?" Chifuyu yelled parting the dumbfounded gaggle of girls even more. She had traded her standard black suit and skirt for grey sweatshirt and sweatpants for the outdoor lesson. Behind her, Danny recognized Cecilia, Charlotte, Houki, and Laura, each in their own uniquely colored pilot-suits: Royal blue, Navy with orange outlines, White with red outlines, and Grey, respectively. "Fenton," she pointed harshly at Dani, "Explain."

Danny spoke up for her, answering to the harsh tone of his surname, "She's my little sister."

* * *

After the chaos died down, Orimura-sensei stated the intention for the day's lesson: mock-combat experience. Behind her knelt 60 IS frames, 30 of the 'samurai-armor' **[Uchigane]** and 30 of the 'blocky-armor' **[Raphael Revive]**, both mass-production frames. She explained that each student would pick a frame when their turn arrived and they would duel with the next person, alphabetically by surname. After all the other students had been given practice, the representatives could choose to spar with an opponent who had proven skillful from among the students. Tag-teams were permitted outside of the primary rounds. When one student pointed out that twenty individual matches would take the majority of the day, Orimura-sensei stated that primary matches would have a five-minute time limit and that the class would be done for the day and students could leave after everyone had competed once.

"We don't have enough IS for everyone to choose the same model so some of you will have to use the other, first come, first served. Go!" she commanded. In the scramble she pulled Danny aside, "{No ghost powers, we want that under wraps completely. Also for the sake of fairness.}"

"{I'll let Dani know then, too,}" Danny answered, "{No awesome theatrics during our match, only skill against skill.}" His admission surprised her slightly.

"{Answers, later,}" Chifuyu declared, her gaze on the younger Fenton.

* * *

Danny grinned expectantly. His match with Dani was nigh. Both had chosen the 'melee-based' **[Uchigane]**, resulting in a 13-27 split, **[Uchigane]-[Raphael-Revive]**, within the group. Eight of the twenty planned matches had already passed, most of them cut at the five-minute mark. Only a few had had a decisive conclusion. He doubted his spar with the little sister he never had, fruit of a failed attempt to clone him, could be completed in five minutes without obvious ghost powers, but he didn't mind. He just wondered how good Dani had gotten in combat.

As the match began, Dani rushed him, sword arcing to connect with his torso. Unaccustomed to the feeling of the IS, Danny clumsily dodged sideways, taking the strike to his arm. His shield energy dropped by fifty-one units. Attempting to at least counter, he threw his other arm at Dani. She took the punch on her arm and used the momentum to increase the distance.

"{What's wrong, 'big brother', piloting an IS can't be _that_ different from flying alone,}" Dani spoke, breathing slightly haggard.

"{I'm still getting used to it, Dani, I've never fought like this before so give me a break,}" Danny answered, planning the next move. "{After this is over, let's talk some more over a burger. I want to hear of any new developments of your powers, too.}"

Nearby Cecilia Alcott brought a hand to her sternum as she gasped slightly. Charlotte Dunois raised an eyebrow. Laura Bodewig made no other indication of understanding than shifting her attention to the girl.

* * *

The spar had ended in a narrow draw, Danny with 37 units of shield energy to Dani's 72 units. By the end, Danny had achieved better control of the machine, dodges becoming slightly more fluid. Single direction speed was also near the upper limit of the machine. Conversely, Dani's performance had decreased slightly. Her reactions slowed and she had gotten slightly paler. When it was over, both dismounted and sat off to the side, away from most of the students.

* * *

After the twentieth match, most of the other students scattered. A few remained to watch the representative candidates or the two Fentons, but soon, they too took advantage of the extra leisure hours provided. When the only one remaining were Orimura-sensei, Yamada-sensei, the Fentons, and the representative candidates, Danny called out.

"Hey, Ichika-san, know any good burger places around?"

* * *

Ichika _did_ know of a burger place nearby and within thirty-five minutes, the eight students had changed back into their uniforms and ridden the tram from the Academy to the city. Along the way Dani had been in a hushed conversation with Rin.

Cecilia glanced between the two Fentons, nervously biting her thumbnail. "So," she started awkwardly, "Daniel and Danielle … that is…a rather…uninspired way of naming a brother and sister."

"{_What_ about my name?}" Dani challenged, breaking off from Rin, glaring pointedly, irises glowing green instead of their natural blue.

"{Dani, Dani! Calm down,"} Danny told her, "{I'm surprised less people have pointed that out these three years. There is nothing wrong with it.}"

The younger Fenton held her glare for a few more seconds before turning away with a snort. A chilling silence fell briefly.

"Sorry about that," Danny offered to Cecilia, who remained frozen like a deer in headlights, "She gets really defensive about things in the first part of her life. 'Danielle' was the first name she'd ever had, a name given by a good-for-nothing old man."

"Sie hat grüne Augen," Laura observed stoically.

"Elle a les yeux verts," Charlotte expressed awestruck.

"I take it y'all saw?"

Four nods, one shake, one 'no response'.

"Cecilia?" *SNAP*SNAP* No response. He looked around. No one else besides them on the tram. "Ichika, you'll have to catch me. Stand here," he motioned for the boy to stand across from the unresponsive girl. Before anyone could protest, he turned translucent and plunged into the English girl's head. A moment later, the ghost boy was ejected violently into the opposite wall as Cecilia woke up screaming in terror.

Before Danny could pick himself off the floor, Ichika had him by the collar, "What did you do?" he growled.

"Entered her mind, gave her a strong mental image in her dream, she wakes up, I'm thrown out. Just to warn you, avoid sentences with 'applesauce', 'boomerang,' and 'gym class' for the next couple hours. I'll explain more after lunch."

* * *

"{You have got to be kidding me,"} Danny deadpanned as he looked at the mascot.

"Ha," Dani called triumphantly towards Rin, "Told ya he'd react to this place. Pay up."

Grudgingly Rin handed over a 100 yen bill.

"Welcome to{The Tasty Burger}, may I take your order?"

* * *

The group returned to the academy before eating the food they'd gotten at the diner-styled fast food restaurant. As they sat in a circle, (Dani, Danny, Ichika, Houki, Cecilia, Laura, Charlotte, Rin), Cecilia twitched her eyes between the two Fentons anxiously, between disdainful bites of a _Tasty Burger Single__**.**_ When it seemed everyone was done eating, Laura spoke first.

"Daniel Fenton, are you truly male?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"You will be Ichika's next roommate," Laura replied without answering, "I need to confirm that you are indeed male. You share too many physical traits with your alleged sister for me to let you sleep near Ichika without confirmation."

"Oh," Dani apparently understood, "After the 'Charles is actually Charlotte' incident you're cautious about potential roommates for the first boy here?" Without waiting for a response, Dani reached a translucent hand through the front of Danny's uniform and tugged at his chest, "{Yoink.}" Ignoring his yelp of pain, she withdrew her hand to display a dark hair between her fingers, "Girls don't get chest hair," she stated, laughing.

"Dani, that took more than a month to grow and it was my only one," Danny complained.

"Then tell it to come back when it has friends," Dani replied playfully.

"She's…a…" Cecilia sputtered.

"Half-ghost too," Charlotte finished for the English girl.

"Yup, just like Danny," Dani happily admitted, standing, "{Goin' Ghost!}" she called. The rings of light manifested like for Danny but were vertical and moved horizontally. Unlike Danny's solid black with white boots, gloves, belt and 'D' symbol, her ghost form was wore a different design of black and white. Instead of a seamless jumpsuit, she wore a shirt & pants combo, exposing some of her midriff. The shirt was asymmetrically divided between color schemes from right shoulder to mid-waist, white with a black glove on the right side and black with a white glove and 'D' symbol on the other. The pants symmetrically changed from black to white at a diagonal boundary at each knee. When the transformation was done, she shivered a little.

As the others gaped, Laura gave Dani a once-over with her eye before asking, "What is her chronological age?"

The question baffled everyone besides the Fentons and Charlotte.

"Chronological?" Rin asked, "She looks about our age so what's the point of asking?"

"Not physical age, Rin," Charlotte responded, "Chronological age is the number of years since birth, usually they're the same."

"And they're not now?" Ichika questioned.

"Not if my hypothesis is correct and Fräulein Danielle was artificially created."

"Like a—?" Houki started.

"Clone," Danny answered, "Yes, she is a clone of me, but she is no less human for it. She's about three-and-a-half."

"Four-and-a-half," Dani corrected, "I've been here for about 19 months."

"Is there a story behind this?" Cecilia quietly asked.

"Yes, and it's kinda long," Danny answered.

* * *

So Danny told the tale of how he'd come to meet his clone. He spoke of his bitter enemy, Vlad Plasmius, and his attempt to create a perfect clone of Danny as an ideal son. Danielle had been the most stable of all the _failures, _Danny spat the word contemptuously. How Vlad had nearly sacrificed her to create a perfect clone. How she had escaped him only to nearly fall prey to dissection by him when she returned to seek help from Danny.

As he finished, the expressions on his audience were as expected: rage, sorrow, pity.

"That _man,_ term used lightly, is no more," Dani stated flatly, "Abandoned in space by Jack, fou… I mean three years ago. Good Riddance."

"Understood," Laura spoke, "Now Herr Daniel."

"Huh," Danny responded, confused slightly by 'Herr'.

"I desire to test your Close-quarter combat skills, attack me," she stood up, brushed some dust from her poofy pants, and stepped away from the circle, assuming a combat position.

"I'll repeat," Danny deadpanned, "Huh?"

"The style you displayed this morning suggests you rely heavily on close quarter combat. It is my desire to test your skill."

* * *

It was at that time Danny learned that technical skill beats raw stats within certain margin, with bruises to prove it. Every attempt to strike was countered with a block or throw. His 'Catch!' tactic with a 'Tasty Burger Special Sauce' packet, theoretically lethal if it was true combat, was merely an ignored distraction. After a few minutes, he tapped out as Laura had pulled his arm into a lock on the ground.

As Laura released his arm with a dissatisfied grunt, Ichika and Charlotte ran over to help him up. Ichika's expression told of a similar experience, while Charlotte seemed concerned with the new classmate's wellbeing. Behind them, the laughter of Dani was audible.

"He'll be fine," Dani crowed between laughing fits, "He's half-dead already, what's a few more bruises?"

"You're enjoying yourself," Danny stated deadpan, checking his new uniform for stains, "Dear little sister."

Dani calmed down slightly before admitting between giggles, "It's not every day that a legendary hero gets beat up like the Box Ghost." She paused, "What's the ketchup packet do?" she asked as the condiment pouch flew towards her.

"Not ketchup, _Nasty Sauce_," Danny answered grimly as he fired a ghost ray at the ballistic seasoning, '_I hope, at least.'_ In the same instant, phantom Dannys, one for each present representative candidate, rose from the ground and grabbed Ichika, Laura, Charlotte, Cecilia, Rin and Houki individually. As one, they channeled intangibility into their person, just as the green energy beam collided with the packet half a meter in front of Dani.

The tiny package bulged before violently exploding in a conflagration 3 meters across. A few seconds after the flash dissipated, the spots in everyone's eyes vanished too, and a transparent icy-blue barrier was visible before a flinching Dani, arms crossed in front of her face as she ducked her head. The defense wasn't perfect though, some of her bangs had been singed.

One by one, the duplicate Dannys released their charges. Cecilia, Rin and Charlotte, shivered a little.

"What was that?!" Cecilia smacked her Danny duplicate with an IS arm, dispersing it.

Ignoring Cecilia's demand initially, he walked to his sister, through her cryogenic barrier, and pat her affectionately on the head. "{That'll do, Little Sister. That'll do.}"

* * *

Unknown to them, the entire event starting with the meal had been observed by Chifuyu Orimura and the Student Council President, Tatenashi Sarashiki.

"So," the teacher put forth, "What do you think Sarashiki-san? Are they tied to Phantom Task?"

"I can't say for certain, but I have doubts for now," the blue haired girl answered, staring at the two obliviously romping 'siblings', "He interests me though. I'll find out more soon enough," she said with mischief in her eyes.

"Keep it low key," Chifuyu ordered her eyes on the charred circle of grass caught in the fireball of highly explosive condiments, "Both of them have abilities that could match an IS, the last thing we need is an incident where Russia's representative is seriously injured."

"Relax, Orimura-sensei, too much worrying with give you wrinkles," Tatenashi advised, to the teacher's irritation, "I'm Student Concil President for a reason. Give me three weeks, and I could have Fenton-kun wrapped around my finger, or at least his trust." Her expression was of curious expectation.

* * *

_{And in other news, we have received information that there is another male capable of piloting IS. A mister Daniel Fenton has been confirmed as a student at the Infinite Stratos Academy starting today. Details on the young man are scarce and no legitimate claim has been made by any country as of yet…}_

The screen went blank as the 'power' button was pressed. The lone figure within the room remained seated, mind blazing at speeds not catalyzed in years. A hand reached for the untraceable phone. A moment later, the other end picked up.

"Who is this?" a digitally garbled voice inquired.

"Bishop 'G' reporting in, my Queen," the caller replied in Japanese.

"What do you want, 'G'?" the garbled voice questioned harshly, "You're not due to report for 34 days."

"I'd like to request another target added to the list, 'M'," 'G' stated, trying to keep a level voice as a smile crossed its lips.

"How oddly proactive of you, 'G'. Request denied," 'M' answered promptly, "Unless you have something else to put forth _American, _shut up and get back to researching the core you were so graciously provided for a method of mass production."

"The plan is at risk," 'G' frantically expressed, demeanor wavering.

"Oh?" 'M' queried, a mix of contempt and curiosity conveyed through the artificial voice, "How so?"

"He is an obstacle to the true target, _your_ real target, 'M'," 'G' paused for effect, "A wall in your path to Ichika Orimura."

Silence.

"_Who,_ might I ask, is this obstacle?" 'M' resentfully probed.

"Daniel Fenton," 'G' informed. '_{Little Badger.}'_

* * *

Translations

Sie hat grüne Augen./Grüne Augen hat sie.: She has green eyes (German)

Herr- Sir/Mister/Mr (German)

Fräulein/Frau- Ma'am/Miss/Ms (German)

Elle a les yeux verts.: She has green eyes. (French)

Author's Notes

So here we are the end of chapter 2. Yay! This story hasn't gotten as much attention as I'd hoped, but I associate that with me posting it at 2-3am central daylight time in the middle of the week. Speaking of time, in the last chapter I forgot to mention the time difference, Japan is 13 to 16 hours ahead of the US, depending on which part of the US is being compared(Eastern:13 hours, Central:14 hours, Mountain:15 hours, Pacific: 16 hours). So 0217 hrs (2:17 A.M. for those unfamiliar with military time) in Japan is 1317 hours (1:17 P.M.) the previous day in Washington D.C. so Chifuyu _could_ have contacted the US Government without having to wake someone up.

Thus, this chapter has Danny actually pilot an IS in combat. I'm not sure if the Academy actually does have sixty operational IS that they'd all deploy at once for a couple classes to use, but just go with it. The reason Dani did so well against Danny (pretty confusing with two characters with almost phonetically identical names, ain't it) was because of her greater experience with IS in addition to using the machine's armament as well. Still not sure if either will get a personal machine, since neither are native, Danny expressly desires to return to _his_ world/dimension, and only 467 IS cores were distributed throughout the nations (a single core vanishing could change the balance of power). Admittedly, if either Fenton/Phantom was given a personal IS, it wouldn't be some high-specs third-generation or fourth generation machine, it'd be a lowly first generation or early second generation machine, ghost powers compensating for mechanical inferiority, and vice versa.

Now for Danielle Fenton, one of the big parts of this chapter. I might be shooting myself in the foot by introducing another _Danny Phantom_ character so early, but whatever. Danny won't be expressly involved with all the harem antics and would have probably stuck mostly to himself without someone familiar to be open around at first. It also gives a chance for him to display/explain ghost powers that she might not grasp completely (cryokinesis, ghostly wail). Also, since Dani and Danny are virtually identical, besides primary and secondary sexual characteristics, it allows for the other characters to reasonably question Danny's gender without seeming unreasonably paranoid.

Danny _did_ notice Dani's shivering and diminishing complexion recognizing the symptoms of growing cryokinetic powers. The 'Tasty Sauce' was a halfhearted jab at her… that happened to explode. He would've pulled her aside to help her with ice powers before she collapsed as he had in 'Urban Jungle'.

And so the plot thickens (maybe). Thank you for reading and as always, please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Phantom Task

Chapter 3

"{Dialogue}"- Spoken in English

"Dialogue"- Spoken in Japanese (or other foreign language, you'll know)

[**Bold Text**]- IS Frame/model

[Text]- IS term or Electronic Message

'_Italics text'_- Personal thoughts

* * *

Shortly after Dani had manifested the 'Cryo-shield' and Danny had praised her for tapping into her Ice powers, he expressed his intent to train her at a remote location, an idea shot down by Chifuyu Orimura.

"I don't care if you have to train her, Fenton," the stern teacher lectured, "You two are not leaving the Academy premises."

"But—"

"All it takes is _one_ satellite to photograph two teenagers flying without IS, and Japan will be pressured on numerous sides to reveal what it knows about you."

"But, Sensei," Cecilia spoke, "I thought it was against international law to position spy satellites over the IS Academy?"

"Do you really think everyone follows the rules, Alcott?" Orimura-sensei posed rhetorically, "There are probably a couple 'weather' satellites up there now, taking images from around the Academy in case something leaves. If training is to be had, it will be had at the training field."

* * *

Listening to Chifuyu's orders, the two Fentons returned to the stadium, where the practical IS lesson had been held earlier. The representative candidates and Chifuyu followed, the former out of curiosity, the latter out of perceived obligation. It was in use when they arrived, a pair of students practicing with Academy units.

By the time that they had finished the practice, the first years had changed into their IS pilot garb, excepting the Phantoms, who were in their own 'combat' uniforms.

Dani's lesson had started exactly like her older brother's lesson with Frostbite had been, building then releasing the cold energy within her body all at once. The elder remembered to step back first, though, and remained unfrozen.

Then was the launching icicles technique. Danny was panicking looking for a stationary target, until his classmates told him about the system set up for target practice with IS. Several holographic targets composed of hexagonal pieces, a center surrounded by three rings, appeared along the wall. Danny demonstrated, hitting one bull's-eye and four 'first-ring'. Dani launched five icicles, landing one 'first ring', two 'second ring', and two missed the targets completely, striking the wall.

It was half an hour before Dani's aim had improved enough for the ocular beam. That part, she got almost immediately, completing her training in Ice powers.

As the hybrids finished up, the pilots all deployed their [IS]. Ichika's, Danny noted, looked different from the day before, the armor seeming to have expanded. As he watched, the other male raised his right hand towards a target. A bright flash was emitted, and a beam shot in the target's direction, missing and putting a hole in the wall.

"Orimura, a key concept in shooting is to _aim_," Chifuyu shouted as the kickback caused Ichika to stumble backwards.

"Give me a break, Sis…" Ichika managed to get out before the teacher seemingly teleported close enough to hit him.

"It's Orimura-sensei. You should know this by now. Now get up and try again."

"Yes, Orimura-sensei," Ichika acknowledged, before three green bolts flew over his head from behind.

As everyone glared harshly a Danny for nearly hitting Ichika, the halfa pointed at the target. Two pieces in the upper part of the first ring and five consecutive pieces low on the second ring were knocked out, resulting in a sort of 'smiley face' on the target. Shocked expressions abound, except a couple appraising glances from Chifuyu and Laura.

"{Daniel Fenton,}" Cecilia Alcott called, "{I challenge you.}"

* * *

He'd fought the British girl, [IS] vs. ghost form, to a draw, more or less. She excelled at long range and multiple opponents, rendering Duplication fairly useless early on. Danny's superior dodging skills made sniping from a distance impractical, thus making combat more mid-ranged. Near the end, Danny had tried rushing Cecilia, taking a laser from one of her [Tears] in the process. It had hurt immensely, even in ghost form, and Danny called it quits after completing his attack: an ectoplasmic blast that had dropped enough of the [Blue Tears] shield energy at once for Cecilia to gape and concede that though he was a {Yank}, Danny was respectable as an opponent and a man.

Afterwards, Danny mentioned his desire to just go back to the room and sleep, cradling his side where the beam had hit. Ichika agreed to walk him back to the dorm room. Charlotte grabbed Dani and Laura, claiming 'girl time' as she dragged the two off. Cecilia insisted on assisting Ichika in providing Danny escort. Houki mentioned something of 'kendo'. And Chifuyu had drafted Rin into something.

"Ow, that smarts," Danny groaned with a wince, grabbing his side as they walked back to room 1025, phantom pain throbbing.

"Then you should have used an [IS]," Ichika responded, "Pretty foolish of you."

"Leave him be, Ichika-san," Cecilia said defensively, "Daniel-san performed admirably despite his lack of experience with [IS]. Though," she looked back at Danny, "I am curious why you didn't defend."

"I _did_," Danny answered, "I went intangible and the laser still hit me. And call me Danny." He unconsciously ignored the blue wisp he exhaled.

Cecilia nearly called attention with a question but someone else spoke first.

"Oh, you're such a cute puppy," they heard someone further down the hall say, "How did you get in here?" A cute bark was heard in reply.

The origin was discovered as they turned the corner, a crouching girl wearing yellow, hooded pajamas, with her back to them. On the hood appeared to be two 'ear-like' protrusions.

"Ah, Nohohon-san," Ichika greeted, "Good afternoon."

The girl turned to them, displaying a sleepy smile and hair a mild shade of lilac. "Hi Orimura-kun, Alcott-san, Fenton-kun," she greeted warmly, "I just found a puppy. He was just wandering the hall. He's so cute, just look at him," she said, leaning to let them see. By this time the three had approached within a meter and a half of the girl.

"That's a Rottweiler," Cecilia stated, "You did notice that it's green, though, right?"

"{Cujo?}" Danny asked horrorstruck. The green puppy was lying on its back, previously enjoying a belly-rub. At his voice the puppy cocked its head towards him

"Danny-san, are you okay?" Cecilia asked, "Do you know this strange dog?"

"Ichika, please give me the room key," Danny requested in a hushed tone, eyes not leaving the dog, "And please tell me how far to the dorm room."

"It's room 1025," Ichika answered, "About 30 doors down, or the fifth door on the right after you turn left down that hallway. Why are you so quiet suddenly?" He handed the key over without hesitation.

"Back away slowly while I make a run for it,"

The puppy pulled itself to its feet, tail whipping back and forth happily as it looked at Danny through red eyes. It crouched and released a playful bark, "**ARRRUFFF,**" the bark of a much larger dog.

"Now," Danny yelled as he bounded over the puppy that was rapidly growing less and less adorable, "I'll draw him away; you make sure no one else gets involved."

"{But Danny}," Cecilia attempted to argue across the dog that filled the hallway, wall to wall, floor to ceiling, with its girth. She was half a second from deploying her [IS]. Glancing at Ichika, she saw the boy frozen in shock.

"No, it's my problem, no one else should get hurt," the American called back, "I can deal with Cujo, if I can just get to my _lunchbox_." The dog barked once more and bounded after the fleeing boy, its back brushing the ceiling with each leap.

* * *

Danny sprinted, harder than he ever remembered doing in gym class, as the mammoth canine pursued. His mind was racing nearly as fast. '_Cujo was in the thermos, how'd he get out? Version 2.0 is supposed to be up to twenty time stronger than the first so he… 1037, 1036, 1035, 1034… couldn't have dug out or broken out, I hope.'_

Doors opened and girls poked their heads out at the sound of heavy footfalls and barking. "Out of the hall!" Danny yelled, "The dog is exercising me!" he slurred in Japanese, causing the onlookers to duck back as the boy and dog passed.

Danny veered left, hearing Cujo's panting close behind. Nine steps down the hallway, his goal nearly within reach, he felt the ghost's weight press upon his shoulders as Cujo pounced on him. He went to the floor, banging his knee, as the dog landed on him. He looked up at the next door 'room 1027', and groaned. He heard the panting grow louder and felt the dog's breath, a habit from life, getting heavier against the back of his neck. He was about to use his ghost powers and phase through the floor when he heard two things from the other hallway.

First was Cecilia's scream.

The second was a stern voice, "Cujo." The dog tensed on the boy. "You get off him, _right now_!" Cujo whimpered as he pulled his two paws off of Danny's back, allowing him to get up.

As Danny got to his feet he saw Cujo facing the other way, head ducked, tail between legs. Quickly he went to the door labeled '1025'. Without even using the key, the handle turned and the door opened. The room looked no different than how he'd left it, except that the Thermos was open on the floor. Snatching it, he ran back to the hall, where the ghost dog remained enlarged, but sat with a ducked head as someone on the other side was sternly scolding.

Setting the capture to the third section of the thermos, Danny re-captured the escaped dog. With Cujo's massive form blocking the hallway, Danny saw the stern speaker. It was the sleepy pajama girl, '_Nonohon-san, I think Ichika called her?'_ bent slightly forward, an index finger pointing up in a scolding gesture.

On either side of her, stood Cecilia and Ichika, though a fairly large group of girls had gathered behind them. Ichika was staring incredulously at 'Nonohon-san' while almost everyone else focused on the origin of the 'vortex of light' that had sucked away the elephant sized dog: Danny and his Thermos.

With a relived sigh, Danny screwed the lid back on until it clicked. "{All clear}," he declared, breaking the awkward silence. Realizing that he'd unconsciously used English, he repeated it in Japanese. He felt his strength vanish as the adrenaline rush wore off. Combined with the other excitement that the day had provided, Danny's exhaustion was both physical and mental.

Thus, Cecilia's attempt to confirm his wellbeing by throwing herself into his arms nearly knocked him over. The stinging slap on his left cheek brought his awareness back somewhat, "{Hey, what was that for?!}"

"{Idiot!}" the British girl cried, backhanding him across the other cheek, "{You Americans always have to do things your way don't you, Daniel?! What if that dog had killed you?! What would Ichika-san and I tell your little sister?! All because you had to be a hero!}" She returned for one more slap, but it was intercepted by Danny.

"{It's Danny, Cecilia,}" he corrected, "{And Cujo is just a big puppy that plays _hard_. More dangerous to property more than to me.}"

"{But, 'Cujo' is the name of a dog in a horror novel.}" Cecilia argued.

"{Large puppy,}" Danny insisted. A flash of light on the edge of his vision caught his attention.

A camera flash. One of the girls watching had a photography camera. A couple had digital cameras. Most of the others had cellphones out, taking photos of the English representative candidate embracing the new transfer student.

"A goldmine, that's what you are Fenton-kun, a goldmine to the school newspaper," the girl with the photography camera pronounced, getting closer, "I'm Kaoruko Mayuzumi, vice-president of the Newspaper club, and you are a reporter's dream. Mystery, drama, heroics…romance," she added suggestively, holding a tape recorder.

"What? No!" Cecilia denied, breaking away from Danny, wiping the tear marks from her face, "I was merely confirming Daniel-san's wellbeing. And telling him that he's an idiot for trying to look like a hero."

"And what do you have to say, Fenton-kun, I sense a big scoop."

"You can start with the pile you stepped in," Danny answered deadpan.

* * *

It was another twenty minutes before Danny was able to lie down as he'd intended. The ruckus had drawn the attention of Yamada-sensei, who then had to call Orimura-sensei to instill order to the girls in order to hear the story from Danny, Cecilia, Ichika, and 'Nonohon-san', whose name was actually Honne Nohotoke, about the ghost dog. Another girl arrived with Orimura-sensei, she didn't give her name but her chin-length sky-blue hair was rather distinctive along with blood-red eyes. She kept shooting glances between Danny, the Thermos, and room 1025.

Right before Danny flopped onto the mattress, he checked the Thermos one last time, section one had Box Ghost, Section two had Youngblood, Section 3 held Cujo, Sections four through eight registered empty.

'_Great, Skulker's out too,'_ he thought, remembering the final ghost he'd captured that last day in Amity Park, '_I'll catch 'im tomorrow. Sleep now.'_

* * *

The next day, Danny went to class with the Fenton Thermos attached to his belt by a carabineer. The girls all whispered to each other about the previous day's events. The most popular rumor was that Danny was an exorcist and that he'd banished 'Cujo the hellhound', back to the abyss. The lecture was boring to the point Danny wished that Skulker _would_ attack simply to break the monotonous droning of technical terms by Orimura-sensei.

The excitement meter was cranked to maximum, by comparison, for the practical lesson that followed. Being half-ghost, Danny was able to arrive in the locker rooms and change before Ichika had even arrived. It was another two minutes before the girls arrived, two minutes spent with silent pride that he was first, ignoring that he was first to _class_.

It was three minutes past the scheduled start of the lesson when Ichika sprinted out of the locker room. His excuse entailed a girl sneaking up on him in the locker room. A girl who hadn't given her name and whom had played 'Guess Who?' with him. The sheer ridiculousness of the excuse was amusing enough, though Danny remembered a random girl once doing something similar to him at Casper High and the amusement died.

Equally ridiculous was Orimura-sensei's response, "Dunois, prepare for [Rapid Switch] training, the target will be this idiot. Don't mind."

Charlotte returned a beautiful smile to the pleading expression of the condemned.

'_Like the teacher would really order her brother to be shot at—'_

"Then, Orimura-sensei, I'll start the training," Charlotte acknowledged as she deployed her [IS].

"Good."

As the rest of the class watched Ichika flee as live rounds were fired at him, Chifuyu pulled Danny to the side, "One of our training units was stolen this morning. Know anything about it?"

"No, why are you asking me? What about your brother?"

"That idiot is fine as he is," Chifuyu brushed off the question, "And there are too many similarities between this theft and your 'joyride'. No tripwires set, no proximity alerts, just an activation, after which all of our contacts with the machine were cut. Something you want to admit?"

"Was it a 'samurai-thing' or 'revive-thing'?" Danny asked nervously.

"It was a [**Raphael-Revive Basic**]. Similar to what Dunois is piloting. Planning to confess?"

Danny paled as he watched the French girl cycle through multiple weapon types as she continued to rain down terror and ammunition on Ichika, who had called his [IS] to protect himself. "I'm dead," the halfa stated cryptically before walking off.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent distancing himself from everyone. He'd told Dani, so she'd be aware but otherwise cut personal interaction. Skulker stalking him was one thing, Skulker stalking him with super-advanced technology was different. That night, Danny posted a duplicate of himself to zap him awake if even a mouse stirred, before fearfully letting sleep take him.

* * *

The next day, Danny's paranoia peaked, with Skulker remaining concealed. The Homeroom and the first half of first period were used to hold a school meeting, a 'pep assembly' of sorts. It took the combined efforts of Dani, Ichika, and Cecilia, with several physical hits from Chifuyu, to get Danny to the auditorium, and even then he'd only sit in a back corner.

He was able to calm down enough, just barely, to pay attention when a girl with chin-length sky-blue hair approached the podium. Next to him, Ichika's jaw dropped.

"That's the girl in the locker room yesterday."

"Good morning, everyone. I had to deal with a lot of things this year, so I couldn't say hello to everyone. My name's Tatenashi Sarashiki and I'm your Student Council President. Nice to meet you."

Applause rang out across the auditorium.

"Then, the important event this month is the school anniversary, so I'll allow for special rules. As for what's going on,"

With a refined movement, she pulled out a fan and shook it at her side. As if matching the movement, a hologram screen appeared in mid-air.

"I call it the **Every Club Fight for Ichika Orimura and Daniel Fenton War**!"

A giant screen behind her displayed images of the two boys.

Before anyone in the audience could react to the President's proclamation, the roar of twin jet engines made itself known high above them all, Danny's ghost sense went off, and diesel fumes wafted through the room.

Skulker descended into the room, light shining off of his well-maintained armor. His screaming jetpack attracted everyone's attention. He fired a missile at the screen bearing the boys' likeness. "So sorry to disappoint," Skulker stated in surprisingly fluent Japanese, his engine volume dropping, "The whelp is _my_ prey."

"Oh?" Tatenashi inquired, indifferent to the shattered glass falling around her, "And what credentials entitle you to that privilege?"

"My status as the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter," several missile pods opened up around his body, "Care to argue? Please say 'yes'."

The teachers had all deployed their [IS], waiting for Chifuyu's or Tatenashi's order.

"Give it a rest, Skulker," Danny Phantom came out of a wall in the back, causing his acquaintances plus Dani to double-take his seat, which bore a note '{Let me handle this}'.

"Hi, Phantom-kun," Tatenashi called waving, effectively neutering a fair amount of the tension, "Nice to meet you."

"And so the whelp appears," Skulker declared turning to face his prey, "_This_ time, your hide shall rest upon my dinner table."

The audience collectively shuddered in disgust. A couple of girls retched where they sat.

"And what makes this time so different?" Danny challenged, a duplicate with the thermos sneaking upon the 'greatest hunter'.

A weapon materialized in Skulker's hand, like coalesced light. Without turning from Danny, he pointed it back over his shoulder and opened fire. The duplicate was hit several times before it disappeared, dropping the Thermos too. "Funny you should ask, Whelp. The humans of this place have amazing technology, ripe for the taking. The important parts have already been assimilated with my armor." He manifested a small green orb within his palm. The orb grew exponentially.

Danny dove for the falling Thermos, unaware of the massive ectoplasmic blast being charged. Catching his one method of ending the battle quickly, he paused for a mere moment to open it.

"Survive _this_, Whelp," Skulker screamed launching a blast of energy greater than a ghost's normal capacity.

Ichika and Dani rushed to rescue Danny, but not even [Ignition Boost] was fast enough to cross the immense room in time.

In the final moment, a sky-blue form, studded with magenta and wielding a spear, soared in front of the blast. Water flowed through the air to form a barrier before it. "It is my respons—" Tatenashi started to say, before the blast engulfed her [IS], her words cut off by her own screams.

The sky-blue [IS] dropped, pilot unable to will its continued flight. Dani and Ichika managed to catch her as Danny's eyes darted from Tatenashi to Skulker, fury building behind his green irises. The auditorium fell silent as the best pilot in the Academy had been completely overwhelmed.

"Ichika Orimura, hold this," Danny ordered, tossing the Thermos, "This guy's earned a beating."

"Whoa, those cores do have a lot of energy," Skulker uttered, "Are you scared Ghost-boy? I doubt you could survive the next—"

A fist crashed across Skulker's face, sending him into the wall. "Well, well, well," mused Danny, flexing his wrist, "Congratulations Skulker, you've finally managed to completely and utterly tick me off." He disappeared, reappearing an instant later at the crater in the wall. Grabbing the hunter's neck, he flew down towards the floor at maximum speed, dragging Skulker's face through the solid concrete and smashing it heavily on impact.

Skulker materialized several weapons to have them vaporized by red ecto-energy blasts.

"Now, Skulker, you're going to learn _how_ upset I get when my enemies hurt third-parties," Danny threatened, grabbing the ghost and flying up through the ceiling.

Ichika and Dani managed to land by Chifuyu, carrying the Thermos and limp Tatenashi respectively. The girl's [IS] had returned to standby mode, a broach on her uniform. Immediately the teacher checked for a pulse, and began chest compressions.

Dani gasped, "Cover your ears," she yelled.

Immediately the windows all shattered as an unholy sound filled the air. It sounded like the death throes of hundreds of animals combined with the tortured screams of the damned. It lasted for a couple seconds, but then, as soon as it started, the wailing ceased.

Danny phased back in through the ceiling, Skulker's armor over one shoulder, other hand clenched in a fist. As his feet touched the floor, he strode to where Chifuyu knelt giving CPR. The other teachers were all poised to strike, as well as some of the students with personal machines.

He tossed the armor beside the teacher, "Your missing [IS] is somewhere in there." He turned his attention to the representative's body, unresponsive on the floor, "I'm sorry."

"Great. But in case you haven't noticed, I'm in the middle of something important."

"You're the hero, do something!"

"Like what? Hold her soul in her body? Pull her out of a coma? I'm a ghost not a wizard."

Tatenashi's body shivered lightly as he spoke.

Ichika grabbed Danny with [**Byakushiki**], "Bring her back, Magic Man," he expressed solemnly, raising the half ghost in preparation for a throw into Tatenashi's head.

"WAIT!" Dani yelled, giving the male pause. She flew over and plucked the thing in Danny's fist, "Still holding Skulker, continue," she displayed the tiny blob-like creature.

"Wait? What?!" Danny sputtered before being spiked into the Student Council President's head, disappearing.

Several seconds passed silently as everyone watched in suspense, still trying to rationalize what they'd just seen. Tatenashi had been giving a speech. Right after a big announcement, an intruder had arrived, claiming to be the greatest hunter of the 'Ghost Zone'. Then everything was a blur, but Tatenashi's fall and the other intruder, a boy who flew without an [IS]. 'Ghost' was mentioned as well. The little green blob disappeared into a vortex of light from the Thermos.

Just as the silence became unbearable, Tatenashi's body spasmed, ejecting a…something. It was humanoid, was wearing lederhosen, and had two heads. One was blonde with blue eyes, the other, bald, mint-colored eyes and a black beard. A ring of light passed over the 'thing' and its appearance was of the mysterious second intruder.

"Uh," Danny groaned, clutching his head, "Does _anything_ scare that girl?"

"What happened?" Chifuyu Orimura calmly demanded, hand measuring the steady pulse in the student's chest.

"Well the good news is that she's alive and mostly unharmed," Danny was hovering parallel to the unconscious girl a small distance above, looking at the still face, "Bad news, I can't wake her up."

"Why…not?" Chifuyu's voice suffused irritation, "Because of you, a student, pilot Sarashiki could have been seriously injured. You caused it,_ you_ fix it."

"I tried," Danny shouted back, "Ten times! You try coming up with ten different nightmare ideas. Every one of them, beaten, ignored, crushed by her. And I _won't_, will not, try an erotic dream. That is crossing more than one line for me."

At that moment, Tatenashi's red eyes shot open and she reflexively supplexed the figure hovering above her, driving his face into the floor, evoking cheers from the student body. "Eh, what happened?" she questioned as she sat up, "I blacked out there."

"Pilot Sarashiki."

"Yes, Orimura-sensei."

"You recklessly entered battle with an unknown opponent. Be thankful that you are alive…"

"Ugh, are all girls around here violent, or is it just me?" Danny groaned as he pulled himself off of the ground, massaging his nose.

"Phantom!"

"WHAT?"

"See to it that nothing from _your_ side affects the students here again."

"No promises," Danny said.

"Phantom-kun?" Tatenashi asked turning towards Danny, her red eyes meeting his green. "I am assuming you defeated that 'Skulker'?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks," she murmured, kissing him on the cheek, shocking all the other students. "Now as I was saying, earlier," she called out to the student body, "The **Every Club Fight for Ichika Orimura and Daniel Fenton War**!"

"WHHHAAAAAATTTTT?!" the hall shook as everyone called out.

"Please remain quiet. Every year, the clubs will set up booths during the school anniversary and hold voting events. Also, the school will provide special funds to the leading clubs. But I do feel that it'll be too boring if I do that this year—," she pointed at Ichika and searched for Danny Fenton in the crowd, "So we'll forcefully get Ichika Orimura and Daniel Fenton to join the two leading clubs! The number one club gets first pick."

* * *

Author's Notes

Chapter 3 done, yaaay! Boom, the existence of Danny Phantom is now known. This part was taking place around volume 5 of the Infinite Stratos light novels. That's when Tatenashi Sarashiki (a.k.a. Little Ms 'Perfection in Human form') is introduced.

I hope my use of suffixes is proper. I chose to use the western naming order, Given name followed by Surname, 'cause it was too confusing for me otherwise.

Nothing really else to say except Thank you for reading and please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Phantom Task

Chapter 4

"{Dialogue}"- Spoken in English

"Dialogue"- Spoken in Japanese (or other foreign language, you'll know)

[**Bold Text**]- IS Frame/model

[Text]- IS term or Electronic Message

'_Italics text'_- Personal thoughts

* * *

"No," Danny Fenton proclaimed from the near wall, "I am not going to be a dancing bear for you."

Tatenashi, Ichika, Cecilia, Rin and Charlotte all did double takes. Dani had a smug grin as did Danny Phantom. Fenton started walking towards the crowd.

"It's for the good of the Academy that you participate, Fenton-kun," Tatenashi argued, recovering her composure quickly. Many of the other students nodded vigorously.

"No means 'no' right? I refuse," Danny said resolutely, "If I join a club, it'll be of _my_ choice." He reached the small crowd around the SCP. "Great job dealing with Skulker," he told his ghostly counterpart, raising a fist to eye level.

"Sure," Phantom responded, bumping his own fist against the offered one, "Though I want to know how he got out," accusation laced his voice. "The containment device created by your parents could hold the _Ghost King_ indefinitely, it is not something the likes of Skulker can get out of."

"I don't know, it got opened the other day. Don't you get upset with me. You know that 'Skulker the hunter' wants my pelt just as much as he wants yours."

"Hi," the reporter from two days prior tried to get between them, "Kaoruko Mayuzumi, vice-president of the Newspaper club, can I get a statement? Like 'who' and 'what' you are?"

Danny Phantom stared at the reporter for a moment before answering, voice rising theatrically, "I have been called many things: Ghost Boy, Whelp, Great One, {Dipstick}, Hero, and {Invis-O-Bill}, but my chosen title is 'Danny Phantom' and I am a Ghost!" He levitated into the air about a meter as Danny Fenton, Cecilia, Charlotte, Houki, and Rin facepalmed. Ichika attempted a facepalm but still had **[Byakushiki]** deployed and only managed to smack himself.

"Okay," Kaoruko slowly replied, writing on a notepad but apparently not convinced, "Except ghosts are something you don't see, haunting old houses and such buildings. Nor do they have feet." She gestured at Danny P.'s intact legs, "Sorry but I deal in facts, comes with a reporter's territory. At least say why you resemble Fenton-kun so closely."

"Ghosts don't have feet? This better?" Phantom asked, his legs having merged into a translucent tail below his waist. Gasps were elicited from the crowd and many girls were taking pictures. "And, to answer your other question, I choose this form. I could resemble whoever I like." To prove his point, rings of light passed over him and his body resembled Ichika with white hair and green eyes. He cycled through several more forms, Houki, Chifuyu, Cecilia, Charlotte, Laura and finally Kauruko, each with ivory hair and emerald eyes, before returning to Danny.

"Um," Kauruko studdered, "What about that Skulker? That metal armor is immobile, did you knock him out, or something?"

"Removed, he was kind of piloting it like your [IS] armors. The _real_ him is small," he turned to Dani, "You got 'im right, Sis?"

"Yep, Bro," Dani Phantom answered, shaking the thermos, "This is yours, take better care of it this time," she said to Danny Fenton, tossing it to him, before flying off through a wall.

"Since it seems the work here is done…{Laters,}" Danny Phantom bade with a salute, before following suit, humming the _Ghostbuster's theme. _

"Stay out of the Girls' locker rooms," Fenton ordered just before the ghost vanished.

Phantom paused, turning to face his human half, "Or what, you'll tear me apart _molecule by molecule?"_ he made a small 'splitting' gesture with both hands, "Your dad threatened me with that and I'm still here ain't I? What can _you _do?"

"I'll tell Sam."

The ghost's eyes widened in horror, "You wouldn't."

"Try me. You remember her…irritation… at your last trespass," Danny Fenton deliberately said for everyone to hear, '_I hope this works.' _Sweat was building on the back of his head.

Two seconds passed, "Fine," DP conceded, "No locker rooms…or bathrooms," he added before his human half could. "Anything else? No? Later!" he quickly shot before disappearing from view.

Danny Fenton clipped the Thermos to his belt and gestured like clapping off dust, "{That's that,}" he sighed with relief, before falling onto his butt on the floor, "{Right, no chair,}" he admitted as he pulled himself up, "{Hey it's been a long day can I return to my room?}"

*SMACK*

"No," Chifuyu Orimura answered, before addressing the rest of the assembly, "Sit down and dismiss all active [IS], the meeting isn't done yet! Pilot Sarashiki, are you still capable of continuing?"

"Yes Orimura-sensei," she answered before giving Danny a wink.

* * *

"{Oh YEAH,}" Danny nearly shouted as the door to room 1025 closed behind them, "{Eat your heart out, Cheesehead,}" he proclaimed skyward.

"Okay, I'm confused," Ichika stated, "Please explain what happened, Danny-san."

"Oh," Danny said sheepishly, reminded of his surroundings, "Well…"

A knock at the door.

Sighing, Danny beat Ichika to the door opened it and shouted, "I already have a subscription to 'Purpleback Gorillas Weekly', stop badgering me about it!" before slamming it shut. "That should baffle them enough to not come back for a few—"

*KNOCK*KNOCK*

Exasperated, he opened the door again.

"Hello, would you like to subscribe to 'Paranormal Monthly'?" the smiling face of Tatenashi Sarashiki asked cheerfully. Beside her was a scowling Chifuyu Orimura.

"We need to talk about the incident today, Fenton, any further plans of yours are currently suspended," the stern teacher intoned authoritatively.

"Aw, Orimura-sensei you mustn't be so hard on Phantom-kun," Tatenashi playfully whined.

"You know? And I tried so hard to…"

Tatenashi silenced him with a finger to his lips, "I am the Student Council President," she murmured gently, "That makes me privy to _everything_ the staff knows_. _Shall we continue this conversation inside?"

Stunned, Danny nodded and let the two women in.

"First things, first," Orimura-sensei stated as Danny sat down on his bed, "What was that sound that shattered nearly all the glass in the Academy? You're lucky we don't charge you for repairs."

"That was the 'Ghostly Wail'," Dani Phantom answered, becoming visible along with the train of Laura, Charlotte, Cecilia, Houki, and Rin, just inside the door.

Cecilia broke hands immediately, "Goodness, that's disconcerting. How do you deal with that sensation, Fenton-san?"

Sighing, Chifuyu addressed the new arrivals, "Always together, you lot are. Fine, you can listen too. Now what's this 'Ghostly Wail'?"

"It's a power that I shouldn't have for another six or so years," a slimy voice answered. Everyone spun to the source, Danny pointing at himself, "It's my most powerful and destructive ghost power, turning my voice into a weapon. Also, I can alter my voice however I like, all thanks to _him_." He pointed at a shape rising from the floor.

First came white ethereal flames, rising off a dome of pale mint-green. As the head cleared the floor, sneering with red eyes and a goatee, even Dani was struck dumb. Muscular shoulders of white followed the head.

"Who is that?" someone asked before the 'D' emblem on the chest revealed the figure's identity. Silence carried until the entire figure was revealed.

"For breakfast I dined upon a litter of kittens," Dan broke the silence with his disturbing voice, "They were delicious."

"Yeah he's an image of _a_ future me," Danny explained, "Strange how a fire ball of highly combustible condiments can ruin someone," he mused as rings passed over Dan, reverting him to Danny Phantom, who then merged with his human side. "Not that it happened, _this_ time. But that's beside the point, the Ghostly Wail isn't something I use often, so you should worry too much. Using it on Skulker was like using a gun to swat a fly."

"Sorry," Tatenashi said softly, "For letting him out."

"You what!?"

* * *

The discussion lasted for a couple hours. Tatenashi apologized for picking the lock to the room, something the other girls found strangely irritating, and toying with the Fenton Thermos out of curiosity. After tongue-lashings by Chifuyu and Danny, she promised against repeating the action. Danny explained his 'two places at once' trick, impressing his audience, especially Charlotte, when he admitted that it was all improvisation at the assembly. After dozens of questions about his abilities and the agreement that 'Danny is a psychic able to sense ghosts' was the cover story for why he would be hunted by Skulker, everyone filed out with Orimura-sensei being the last.

"Fenton, go to the stadium at 0900 hours sharp on Sunday. The 'resident genius' was ecstatic about the salvaged armor and wants to observe ghost interactions with [IS] in person. Brace yourself, she's… eccentric."

* * *

Saturday passed without a hitch, excepting Danny's slight breakdown that school shouldn't be six days a week. His connection to ghosts became a topic nearly as hot as the war to claim him and Ichika. Most booth ideas involved one or both of them doing something mundane with customers, mainly girls.

'_What's with these girls? It's like they've never even talked to a boy before,'_ Danny thought to himself after shooting down the 'Play twister with Danny' idea.

"But you boy are shared property," one girl argued, "You must be shared with the world, it would be wrong of us to hoard you two."

"So we're village bikes? _Every_one has to have a ride. I always wanted to be an object to be passed between girls like a makeup kit."

"When you put it like that, you make it sound awful. Please be a good boy and go with it."

Ichika looked like he wanted to retort but was unable to articulate words coherently. The Class representative for 1-1 just sat, ramrod straight, eyelid twitching.

"{Sad, ain't it?}" Danny said loud enough to be heard throughout the room. Most of the girls were confused with his sudden switch to English, not having fluency in it. "{Sad that when a guy is passed around by girls, it's fine, he might even be a hero to other men, but when it's a girl being passed around by guys…}"

*SLAM*

"{That's horrible!}" Cecilia shouted, offended, as she stood up at her desk, heavy blush on her face. She was merely the first to rise completely, Laura and Charlotte also mid shift from sitting to standing.

"Behold the…_wonderful…_double-standard between sexes," Danny stated, resuming Japanese, "Might I suggest something horror related instead? A haunted house would be too big—"

"Why horror?" another girl queried, "Haunted houses are sooo clichéd as festival booths. All it is, is cheap special effects, pathetic costumes, and weak lighting."

"Well, I know ghosts and you can't really put them anywhere but horror, unless they're comically pathetic. For example, the {Fright Knight}, Fright Knight," Danny said, using both the ghost's English title and a rough Japanese translation, "If he cuts you with his sword, you are sent to a world created of your own worst fear until some can seal him again with the verse:

{To cease the storm}

{To end the fear}

{The sword must sheath}

{In pumpkin near!}"

"That's a wild imagination, Fenton-san, but we need actual ideas, not mythical fear blades."

"Wait, maybe he's onto something. If we make a haunted house and have it super scary, we can charge for Fenton-san or Ichika-san to escort patrons."

Eventually, it was decided that class 1-1 would be doing a Maid and Butler Café, much to Danny's vocal dismay, with both Ichika and Danny being butlers. It had been Laura's idea, surprising many in the class for some reason, Danny noted.

* * *

At 8:45 AM Sunday, Danny left the dorm room for the Training area, dressed in the [IS] pilot uniform. Ichika had woken and left to parts unknown by the time Danny awoke, so the halfa locked the door behind him. The brisk walk was uneventful, especially since none of the stray girls he passed noticed the invisible boy.

At 8:54, he arrived to find that his roommate was there too, alongside Dani and the other first year girls Danny had come to acquaint himself with over the past week.

"Am I missing something?" he asked, confused.

"Are you some country bumpkin or something?" Cecilia responded, "The creator of [IS] is coming to specifically meet _you_ and you ask why others come to watch? You are practically late, as well."

"Thank you, Princess Red Coat," Danny sarcastically replied, "I have now realized that I must arrive two hours before any scheduled meeting."

"Red Coat?" the English girl tilted her head in confusion

"Revolutionary war. British wore red coats. We beat you. Hence, USA," Danny answered.

"Why you…you…American…person," Cecilia sputtered back, "{Yankee!}"

"Alcott, Fenton, QUIET!" Chifuyu ordered, "It's like I'm dealing with children."

"Sensei, must I be here?" Houki asked, visibly nervous.

"Yes." Immediate response.

At 9 o'clock on the dot, the silence was broken at the next arrival.

"CHHHHHIIIIIII-CHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN -!" the woman, who Danny assumed was the 'designated genius', raced across the field at seemingly impossible speed toward…Orimura-sensei?

In a split-second with a motion suggesting lots of practice, the teacher sidestepped and swung her elbow down on the space she'd previously stood in.

*TOINK* the elbow knocked the human missile to the ground with a high pitched, hollow noise.

"Aw, Chi-chan so mean," the woman groaned childishly, rubbing her head. She looked about Chifuyu's age physically, but Danny couldn't rightly guess based on her mannerisms. Strangely, moreso than the mechanical bunny ears Danny thought, her hair was a rich shade of plum.

'_Azure, green, lilac and now plum, how are they natural hair colors?'_

Off to the side, he saw Houki cover her own face shamefully. Making a connection near immediately as the strange woman acted childishly towards Chifuyu, he moved closer and offered, "It's okay, Houki, my parents were just as embarrassing, too."

"That's my _sister,_" Houki shrieked, "And what's with using only my first name without a suffix?"

Houki's yelp seemed to rouse the newcomer's attention from Chifuyu, "Houki-chan!" she cried with a leap. It would have connected, had the desperate girl not grabbed the nearest object, Daniel Fenton, and thrown it at the approaching woman.

The two crashed and collapsed into a heap. Danny felt a soft pressure pressing down on his face as his eyes were obscured by…something covered in fabric. '_Please be navel'_ he begged internally as the body shifted on top of him. She smelled, he noticed offhand, of the familiar scents of oil, ozone, metal, and slight traces of human sweat, much like the lab of Fenton Works.

The woman got off of him, breaking the hope he'd not been caught in the valley between mountains, and leveled a curious stare at the young man she'd collided with. "Who are you? I've never seen you before," she asked with a cold tone, opposite the childish attics she'd been engaging in. "It's rude to interrupt touching family reunions, you know?"

"W-Wha-What? I didn't do anything! Are you the 'resident genius' who wants to know about ghosts?"

At "genius" and "ghosts" the woman's expression softened into a cheerful smile, "Ah, you must be the half-breed." She hooked her hands under his armpits and lifted him off the ground slightly, shifting her head to view from different angles. "I am the beautiful genius Tabane Shinonono. And who is the test subject today?" she said in a voice too cheerful to have spoken those words.

"Danny Fenton," he answer hesitantly, "You're not going to dissect me are you?"

"Danny short for Daniel I presume," Tabane asked, "And why should I autopsy you, that's for a coroner, I am a scientist, though for a prime specimen such as you…"

"No," Danny answered, phasing out of her grip and backpedaling a few steps.

"Just kidding," Tabane called childishly, just as Chifuyu drove a fist down on her head. "Ow!"

"Hurry up Tabane," the teacher ordered, "The sooner you get this done, the sooner he's out of my hair."

"Alright Chi-chan, but you must make it up to me later."

*BAM* "This is enough now."

"Okay," Tabane whined weakly. Moments later, the developer of [IS] was surrounded by equipment that appeared like [IS] armaments. Monitors, wires ending in suction cups, and a large steel box nearly two meters in height.

"An [IS]?" a couple of the girls questioned.

"Now Di-kun," Tabane spoke to Danny, holding two suction cups, "Please remove the top of your pilot suit. The EKG collects better data with direct skin contact."

Danny grabbed the top and phased out of it.

"Amazing, I didn't think you actually do it," she chirped happily, applying suction cups to his chest, "Do you shift the vibration frequencies of your molecules when you do that? Put this on," she handed him a helmet covered in electrodes.

"I don't know," Danny answered as he slipped the metal shell onto his skull.

"Just as well then," Tabane said in response, "Starting, now. Please lie down," She pressed a key on a holographic keyboard. Immediately a rhythmic beeping filled the air. "Heart rate at 62 beats per minute. Brainwave activity, normal. Now could you please do what it is to become a ghost?"

"{Goin' Ghost}" the luminescent ring passed over near instantly.

*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEE* the periodic 'chirp' of the EKG was replaced with a continuous scream as it registered a flat line.

"Danny/Fenton-san," Cecilia and Charlotte called out, running to the ghostboy, as the others stared dumbfounded, save Dani and Laura. Cecilia put a hand on his chest, Charlotte checked his wrist, but no pulse was found.

"{Oi'm not dead yet,}" Danny said in a faux-British accent, "{Ah think Ah'm gettin' bettah.}"

"Impressive," Tabane observed, muting the volume on the EKG, "Subject lacks heartbeat, though retains consciousness without apparent negative effects. Alpha and Gamma brainwaves also sharply increased."

"Not what I would say," Cecilia said as she glared at Danny.

"What, don't you like Monty Python?" Danny asked.

*SMACK* a palm smacked against his cheek before Cecilia followed Charlotte back to the other observers, where Dani was grinning smugly at some perceived joke.

"Stop messing with my data," Tabane shouted uncharacteristically at the two blonde girls. "Now, let's try out an IS for you Di-kun." The steel crate collapsed open as if on command. The contents were…underwhelming.

As opposed to the other IS Danny had witnessed, the one Tabane brought was bulky and cumbersome, round instead of angular. The lower half seemed to be worn like pants, with exaggerated knee and ankle joints, and feet that appeared much more suited to land travel than the other IS. At the center of the back, a bar of metal rose. Near the top of the vertical bar, two more bars branched off, each leading to an arm, though these too had joints, elbows, as opposed to other IS which merely covered forearms. The hands were bulbous with round stubby fingers. Unlike other IS, it lacked wings. The overall shape seemed vaguely familiar.

The other pilots gazed confusedly at the [IS].

"Looks kinda…"

"Outdated?"

"That's a –"

"What Dunois-san?"

"That's a first gen prototype frame, preceding the **[White Knight]**."

"Ta-ba-ne," Chifuyu growled, rolling up a sleeve, "You are not putting a student of mine in that death trap."

"Chi-chan shouldn't worry, someone can't die if they've already been killed."

Ignoring the chase happening around them, Dani prodded Charlotte, "Okay, let's pretend I don't know what that means."

"Where should I start?"

"At the beginning," Danny answered, having joined them as Chifuyu continued to chase Tabane.

The French girl sighed. "As you know, IS were originally developed for space travel—"

"I didn't know that!" Danny interjected.

"You would if you read the manual," hissed Cecilia, "Continue."

"Originally for space travel but that failed, then the [White Knight] incident happened and IS potential as a weapon was discovered. This frame was between those events, focusing on interfacing with its pilot. Dunois Enterprise produced a couple from public schematics from Professor Shinonono, but scrapped them after the fourth fatality. The frame has since been dubbed **[Iron Maiden]** for the tendency to kill or cripple its pilots."

"How does it kill?" Danny asked.

"You aren't planning on getting in that thing?"

"Depends, am I the power source?"

"Non, non, it's powered by a core like all the others," Charlotte answered, "Most pilots go into shock. Unlike more recent IS the **[Iron Maiden]** cannot receive brainwaves like a radio, it needed a direct link to the central nervous system." Her face started losing color.

"You don't mean…"

"Neural receptors," Charlotte said, face pale, breathing rapidly, "Thirty-two needles…inserted directly into the spinal column… two between each vertebrae…starting between the sixth and seventh cervical…down to third lumbar…" That was all the further she got before passing out.

"Charl!" Ichika caught her.

"Dunois-san!"

"Charlotte."

"Rifle-Dropper, are you okay?"

Danny's comment got a couple blank stares. Cecilia snorted, trying to cover it with a cough. Laura however leveled a cold glare.

"You listen here, Fenton," the German girl threatened, prodding his chest, "Your testicles will drop from your body before she throws down a weapon in surrender." The effect was not diminished by her smaller stature or the IS pilot suit being an overglorified swimsuit. The threat felt very real and Danny closed his knees.

"It was a joke, lighten up."

"Well, I'm not laughing," she said before pointing at the prototype frame, "Get in that and fight me."

"What."

"I challenge you to a duel, if I win, you take back that term. If you win, I'll let it stand."

"But Orimura-sensei called it a death trap and Charlotte-san described how it connects with…its pilot," Cecilia pleaded, "Danny-san could die by wearing that."

"Professor Shinonono would not have brought it without faith in his survival."

"Sure why not?" Danny agreed, "Here and now good?"

Ichika started laughing nervously, "That's a funny joke, Danny-san."

"No seriously, neural receptors don't bother me," Danny called flying to the exoskeleton. He returned human before inserting himself into it, the metal cold against his exposed flesh. Taking a guess he pressed one of the two buttons on the waist, "Activating neural receptors." Air hissed as the {IS] hummed to life and fitted itself to his body. Characters appeared before his eyes along with a number, 738, and a bar.

"{English language, please}," Danny requested. The machine responded by changing the settings to English.

'[Unit Activation Confirmed. Neural Receptor Status: Unconnected. Shield Energy: 738 units.]'

"{Connect Neural receptors,}" Danny ordered, hoping lightning might strike twice and the machine would respond to his voice commands. Upon command, curved metal bars hugged both sides of his abdomen tightly, pulling the flexible backbone of the frame into close alignment with the young man's spine,.

"Fenton," Chifuyu yelled, having ceased chasing Tabane, "Remove yourself from that [IS] at once."

All at once, the 32 needles burrowed through Danny's flesh and into the spinal cord. He let out a groan and winced, '_Neural receptors weren't _this _painful before.'_ He took a single step forward.

"Yay!" Tabane cheered, gazing over holographic displays, "Startup and connection successful!"

"Well, then," Laura responded to the activation, walking to the side, distancing herself from bystanders before activating **[Schwarzer Regen]**, "Any final requests?" she leveled the railgun on her right shoulder in Danny's direction.

"{Danny, don't do it}," Cecilia begged, "{Bodewig is the best pilot among us.}"

"Pilot Bodewig," Chifuyu shifted attention to the German girl, "Cease [IS] activity at once, that unit lacks flight capability."

"Not anymore, {Goin' Ghost}," Danny called out, aura rings encircling him and his [IS]. As the rings passed, the dull metallic silver of the machine was replaced with glossy black, except for the hands and feet which became brilliantly white. At the end of the transformation, the [IS] lifted slightly off of the ground.

"YEEEEEESSSSSSS, perfect, do some more Di-kun," Tabane cried ecstatically as she looked at her display, ignoring the otherwise shocked silence.

"Why didn't I think of it?" Dani asked rhetorically, smacking herself on the forehead.

"Because the one at home blew up before you were born?" Danny offered.

"Sehr gut," Laura muttered, "Impressive now let's settle this," the railgun fired.

The **[Iron Maiden]** and its pilot turned translucent before both were knocked back a considerable distance. The bar had shrunk to a quarter of its original length, [Shield Energy: 185 Units], not that Danny noticed. The pain in his chest nearly knocked him out, agony he expressed with a long drawn out scream.

* * *

Danny's cry woke Charlotte, "Wha…He put it on, didn't he?"

"Charlotte, you're awake," Ichika beamed at the girl, causing her to blush, "Yeah, he's in it. He started screaming after Laura-san shot him. Do you know why?"

"Cet imbécile," Charlotte muttered, "That frame is incomplete. Besides redundant safety measures, it also lacks the passive inertia cancelling technology of later [IS] frames."

"In English…er…Japanese," Dani ordered, followed by a more polite, "In simpler terms, please."

"For starters, the shields will block the attacks but the force is transmitted so the pilot may be protected by a shield, but they feel every impact as if they were directly hit."

"And that is exactly why he shouldn't have activated it," Chifuyu calmly said among them, "Though it's out of our hands now, unless Tabane decides to end it, an action I doubt she'll do."

* * *

The pain remained when Danny finished his scream, though it had lessened considerably, '_That was live ammunition, it should have passed through me. It hurts, pain.'_ He glanced at the display, seeing his heavily depleted shield energy, '_Maybe the shields can't be Phase Shifted. So why does it hurt? I need to disappear and think this out.'_

"Ready to give up yet, Fenton?" Laura called as she prepared another shot and her opponent appeared to be coherent of his surroundings again, "That sounded painful, though knowing the low threshold your countryman have for pain, a simple punch would probably cause the same reaction." Her opponent became invisible as she finished. '_Hiding like a coward, are you? How ignorant you are to [IS] capabilities. EXECUTE SCAN OF ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM.'_

With her mental order, her perception of the surroundings darkened, gradually getting lighter. At infrared, the forms of their audience blazed brightly against dark blue but Danny could not be found. The scan passed visible light without success, her perception growing brighter and brighter. At near end ultraviolet, she almost gave up as the high frequency light assaulted her uncovered eye when she noticed something. A dark blot among the almost white backdrop, in the air to her left. '_Found you.'_ She thought triumphantly as she returned the settings to visible light and fired upon the position of the stationary blot.

A green barrier appeared in her firing path, holding for a moment before shattering. Danny reappeared where the barrier had manifested, groaning. He looked at his shields: [62 units of energy]. Slowly he dropped to the ground, stress and pain threatening to ferry him away from consciousness, '_Intangibility: shot; invisibility: found; ghost shield: broken. I guess that I can stay awake to fire one ghost ray before…sleeping. Sleep is…nice.'_ He raised a hand, concentrating with the last dredges of brainpower. Intersecting rings of light formed around his fist.

At the same time Laura was preparing the final shot. Seeing Danny's preparation, she hastened the pace and fired.

Danny launched the ectoplasmic beam. Fatigue compromised his aim, causing the beam to go low and to the left. His consciousness faded before the bullet could hit, but the impact reduced his shield to 0 and activated the Absolute Barrier, as well as sending him through the air, the transformation reversing.

As the group rushed to Danny where he lie, Chifuyu approached Laura, who was walking calmly towards her fallen opponent, [IS] in standby. "Pilot Bodewig..."

"I accept any disciplinary action that Instructor deems fitting for my actions," Laura stoically shot, assuming 'Attention'.

Chifuyu stared at Laura, then shifted her gaze over her student's shoulder, "You were lucky his aim was awful."

"Instructor?"

*BAM* "It's Orimura-sensei, and your punishment is filling in the crater." She pointed.

"Crater?" Laura queried, turning around, and seeing it. The beam had swung low, hitting the ground twenty meters behind where Laura had positioned herself in the battle. The crater formed was ten meters across and three meters at the deepest. "Crater."

* * *

Translation notes

Sehr gut- Very good- German

Cet imbécile-That idiot-French

* * *

Author's notes

Hurrah another chapter is done. I was hoping that I'd finish more on this Wednesday but alas, only Phantom Task gets an update.

First off, if I made Ichika seem incompetent in this chapter, sorry, this wasn't meant to bash characters or plots. Like Ichika smacking himself instead of face palming, purely believable in my opinion, since I once lost track of my wallet, when it was _IN MY LEFT HAND_. And Danny seeming to notice the double standard is not 'Danny Phantom is more competent than the entire cast of Infinite Stratos'. The cast will notice a flaw in Danny likewise glaring, but totally normal to him so he doesn't notice.

Second, Danny's [IS], the **[Iron Maiden]**, perhaps eventually renamed in-universe **[Fenton Stockade]**. I wanted at the beginning for Danny to not be too overpowered so third gen and fourth gen frames were out, in the case he did get an [IS]. Also I'm lacking in the creativity department so fancy armaments and one-off abilities are off the list. Really I wanted something Danny would channel ghost powers through, like the Exoskeleton, only less dangerous (or more as this case may be). Having him in one of the earliest prototypes for [IS] fit the bill. What the prototype does is multiply the natural abilities of the pilot, like the Fenton Exoskeleton, but doesn't shield the pilot's body from the forces involved. Like strength to lift a car, but not the resilience to do so without breaking a bone or ripping a tendon. See required secondary powers on tvtropes for better explanation. Please tell me how i did. And "Thank you" NeoNazo356 for the discussion that refined the idea to what it is now.

For the fight, all I will say is that Laura's [IS] fire projectiles .8 (eight tenths) of an inch long. For reference, a .45 caliber handgun that seems to be the most common gun out there (if television is to be believed) fires a bullet that is forty-five hundredths of an inch long. .577 caliber is high caliber even for a rifle (search "577 t rex" on youtube and see '_rifle-dropper' _reach a new level of humor).

I hope my attempts at humor have gone over well within the story.

Thanks for reading and please REVIEW. Thank you.


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